next »

Facebook has become such a pervasive force in modern society that increasing numbers of employers, and even some psychologists, believe people who aren't on social networking sites are 'suspicious.'
The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.
On a more tangible level, Forbes.com reports that human resources departments across the country are becoming more wary of young job candidates who don't use the site.
The common concern among bosses is that a lack of Facebook could mean the applicant's account could be so full of red flags that it had to be deleted.
Slate.com Advice Columnist, Emily Yoffee, wrote in an advice column that young people shouldn't date anyone who isn't on Facebook.
'If you’re of a certain age and you meet someone who you are about to go to bed with, and that person doesn’t have a Facebook page, you may be getting a false name. It could be some kind of red flag,' he says.
Yoffee points out that these judgements don't apply to older people who were already productive adults before social media became widespread.
The tech news site Slashdot summed up Der Taggspiegel's story about social networking as 'not having a Facebook account could be the first sign that you are a mass murderer.'

Dailymail article

Forbes article

Well, all I have to say is that, if being on Facebook is normal, then I've never been more proud to be abnormal.
Anyways, I know that there's quite a few Facebook members around here, and several who stay away from it, so… What do you all think on this?

I could see it as the other way around. If your profile is so full of red flags, it's an easy way for people to find stuff about you. If I checked my girlfriends (wish I had one) FB page, and there she was dating someone behind my back... You get te idea >.>. But this article does have a good point, that non Facebook users (such as I) could be hiding many things. Yet even friends of someone who doesn't own a social networking account can affect them, which was a big reason that I don't have one.

It's a double edged sword here

Before you begin reading this, I don't currently have a Facebook account (started in October 2009, deleted the account the same month in 2011). 

I read this article a few weeks ago.  If the general mindset of people is shifting to mass, absolute, and exclusive adoption of Facebook, then that is so indicative of our predispositions with privacy, megacorporations, and (humorously) brand-loyalty.  As far as job candidates go, there is a clear distinction between one's work life and one's private life.  There are vast amounts of resources to look into a person's criminal record and such to examine whether or not they've damaged their reputation in such a way as to prevent hiring by a company.  Facebook is one of these, but the absence thereof does not indicate a person is hiding anything.  The way the mentioned human resources departments are acting is the equivalent of a guilty-unless-proven-innocent approach to decisions, which is clearly less favorable and just than the opposite (as proven in recent centuries).  The title of that Slashdot article is pretty laughable as well, considering what they'll write on a headline to get you to read it.    Because in our current society, our attention spans have collectively gone down in favor of mass information processing; so when someone sees this headline, it'll initiate a chain reaction of peer-to-peer exchanges that is almost as unreliable as when messages were transmitted from place to place by a team of people in a line.    This might influence other human resources departments to resort to the same tendencies, all because they failed to look at facts.

I will not argue that social networking is an excellent innovation, a utility in today's world to most people, but in the current state of the social networking market, Facebook has a connotative monopoly.  It's the equivalent of cell phones being invented, and then Apple eventually gaining and holding the exclusive right to manufacture, distribute, and sell phones to the public...by the public.  Facebook's presence in this situation is only shadowed from the public eye because the service is monetarily free.

Facebook has terrible programming and has repeatedly shown itself to be untrustworthy. Those are just some examples of entirely justifiable reasons for people to not want to use it. Also, it takes actual botheration and effort to bother even setting up a stupid account that you don't want to bother looking after.

I actually happen to have an account, but its defunct and was only ever used to wire up to pidgin so I could contact someone who only used facebook chat >.<

Uh. The fact that the people quoted in this article see it as a requirement that everyone in the world must share everything about themselves with everyone who wants to look... does anyone else find that kinda offensive?

Can I move to a new society, please? I'm not sure I like the way this one is going. <_<

Can I move to a new society, please? I'm not sure I like the way this one is going. <_<

I'll do you one better. How's about we move to another planet.

It's funny because these are the exact sort of people whom I tell that I don't have an account. If that bothers them... uh... I don't care.

Considering FB will likely become as obsolete and worthless as AOL,  I have to wonder how much FB stock these people are stuck with. They may be needing to prop up the numbers, re inflate it's fake worth, so they can unload it! 

My lack of a Facebook account isn't likely to harm my reputation that much. I'm already abnormal and suspicious.

Also found this Huffington Post article…
So it at least seems that there are some news resources out there, that aren't going to just run blindly and repeat the same unquestioned nonsense that was handed to them.

Can I move to a new society, please? I'm not sure I like the way this one is going. <_<

I'll do you one better. How's about we move to another planet.

I already called dibs on mars 

I have a minimal account. My friends are always posting new friends and interesting
things, but I rarely take the time to look at it.

I made an acount a week ago, and was only on it that one time. I created the profile under my pseudonym (and Fursonna's name), so nobody knows who I am. Personally, I don't think I'll be using FB much...

I have one, but only to stay in contact with friends from other countries. If it wasnt for them, my account would have been deleted months ago

[Furaffinity | Twitter | Cafepress:Furry Themed Tee Shirts φ |]

LOL... It's abnormal and suspicious to not want to put all your personal information online for advertisers
to buy and info mine, so they can sell you more crap.
In a few years when everyone is connected the greatest power might be being invisible.

I'll do you one better. How's about we move to another planet.

I really liked that episode of futurama

I was very disappointed to see that daily mail article, even by their standards it's bad. I do have a face book account but I don't like using it now. When I first signed up to fb it was fun to use, now its a boring place to flush out a load of personal info. Sadly I'm almost required to have an account because every society at uni (and any social event for that matter) posts on facebook and no where else . Also there are all the photo's that you have been tagged in...

I would like to deactivate my account but it would make my social life harder *sigh* /firstworldproblems

Well, If you're not a Alaskan Malamute or Siberian Husky anthro on FB, then you're not part of the pack.  I only accept canines I can trust. 

LOL... It's abnormal and suspicious to not want to put all your personal information online for advertisers
to buy and info mine, so they can sell you more crap.
In a few years when everyone is connected the greatest power might be being invisible.

Well, in all fairness they can't sell you anything unless you buy it.

[Furaffinity | Twitter | Cafepress:Furry Themed Tee Shirts φ |]

LOL... It's abnormal and suspicious to not want to put all your personal information online for advertisers
to buy and info mine, so they can sell you more crap.
In a few years when everyone is connected the greatest power might be being invisible.

Well, in all fairness they can't sell you anything unless you buy it.

Well, in all fairness this is our modern world view...LOL

LOL... It's abnormal and suspicious to not want to put all your personal information online for advertisers
to buy and info mine, so they can sell you more crap.
In a few years when everyone is connected the greatest power might be being invisible.

Well, in all fairness they can't sell you anything unless you buy it.

Well, in all fairness this is our modern world view...LOL

But the funny part about this is that in today's world, we have come up with new and creative ideas of value: for example, private information.

I have an account; but about all anyone would be able to tell about me from it is that I play Farmville. 

]I took the Red pill a long time ago.
Let me guess the write is generation Y who who life  has revolved  around social media to the point that  the person is unaware of a reality outside the Facebook matrix.

Just seen this and thought it was relevant to the topic and amusing xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytE4wu4lwQk&feature=g-all-u

For those in the UK the series is called "The revolution will be televised" and is available on iPlayer. I HIGHLY recommend you watch it!

... and if you're non-binary and using Facebook, you're pretty much screwed as far as forced pronouns goes.

Dailymail

Oh.

Just seen this and thought it was relevant to the topic and amusing xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytE4wu4lwQk&feature=g-all-u

For those in the UK the series is called "The revolution will be televised" and is available on iPlayer. I HIGHLY recommend you watch it!

That was hilarious!  

"Can I poke you then?"
"No, you can just... go away."

Great commentary.


Anyway, as for the original post that mentions employers and psychologists, this is something that I get "opinionated" about. Your personal life outside of work is none of the employer's business! 

I do have a Facebook account, but only talk to a few people and mostly just play Scrabble with people. I don't care having hundreds of "friends". I don't elaborate too much about my political beliefs or religious beliefs either. Anyone who wants to know can ask. I, as the owner of that information, will decide if/what to tell an employer or anyone else.